A vehicle including a parking assisting apparatus has increased. The parking assisting apparatus is an apparatus for detecting an obstacle, and notifying a driver of an interval with a vehicle or automatically parking the vehicle based on the detected obstacle while parking, and may include an ultrasonic sensor for detecting an obstacle.
The parking assisting apparatus for detecting an obstacle around a vehicle through an ultrasonic sensor and giving an alarm to a driver is generally divided into two methods as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 according to a connection method between an electronic control unit (ECU) and a sensor.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of an interface, in which an ECU of a vehicle communicates one to one with each ultrasonic sensor, and a three-pin connector method in the related art, and FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of an interface, in which an ECU of a vehicle communicates one to N with each ultrasonic sensor, and a six-pin connector method in the related art.
Referring to FIG. 1, the method of communicating one to one between the ECU 100 and respective ultrasonic sensors 201, 202, 203, 204, . . . adopts a star topology connection structure, and the respective sensors are connected to a three-pin connector.
Referring to FIG. 2, the method of communicating one to N between the ECU 100 and respective ultrasonic sensors 201, 202, 203, 204, . . . adopts a bus topology connection structure, and the respective sensors are connected to a six-pin connector.
Input signals of each pin of the connectors 210 and 220 are power Vsup, ground GND, a signal Signal or LIN, and the like, which are illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2.
The reason why use the six-pin connector in the bus topology method is used because the ECU 100 requires an address of each sensor in order to discriminate the same ultrasonic sensors on the bus, but the address of the sensor is assigned based on an open state and a short state of three address pins ADR0 to ADR2, so that three pins are additionally required.
The bus topology method has a relative advantage in that a length of a line and the number of pins of the ECU necessary for a connection are decreased, and communication is more reliable while using a standard protocol.
However, there are many cases where the parking assistance apparatus currently adopts the star topology and the three-pin connector method, so that research on a method of minimizing an increase in manufacturing costs and a change in design, and using the bus topology method has been conducted.